


The Most Elegant Weapon

by sneksonaplane



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 20:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4849859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sneksonaplane/pseuds/sneksonaplane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That fic where serial killer Stiles discovers the new guy in his apartment building is a crime boss and they bond over cats and murder</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Elegant Weapon

Stiles is in the process of washing blood from his body when he hears the fire alarms in his apartment go off, loud and high pitched enough to make him flinch. 

_Seriously?_

It’s all he can think, turning the water off before stepping out of the shower, briskly drying himself off and putting his clothes on. He doesn’t rush too much, though. He highly doubts there’s any actual danger; the last three times his building had been evacuated and the fire department called, it had been because residents were smoking inside or had burnt their dinner. There’s no way he’s rushing outside naked, well past midnight, for that. 

Once he slips on a pair of shoes and walks out onto his fire escape, he’s met with the sight of several annoyed neighbors, all of them shuffling down the fire escape stairs to the front of the building where they’ll wait for the fire department to arrive just like him. 

Of course, a few people are genuinely concerned about the alarms wailing throughout the building, worried there’s an actual fire somewhere and rushing out of their apartments in pajamas and bathrobes. What Stiles doesn’t expect to see is that Peter Hale, the man who lives in the penthouse apartment one floor above him, is apparently one of those people who hurried outside without bothering to get dressed first. 

 

Stiles has been...interested in Peter Hale for two months now. Infatuated isn’t exactly the right word; he’ll admit that “obsessed” might be an accurate description of his feelings for Peter. The guy is not only hot, but an honest to god crime boss as Stiles has discovered, and that makes him the best neighbor ever. He’s allowed to be obsessed, okay?

He’s been mildly interested in his sort-of neighbor since the day he moved in, when they’d met on the elevator and Stiles had realized Peter was the new person living in the penthouse on the tenth floor of the building, the first person to occupy the space in almost a year. So he was obviously not only attractive but rich, and that alone earned Stiles’ attention. Then there were the mysterious “business trips” Peter took, leaving at all hours of the night and returning days later, only to repeat the process all over again. It had peaked his curiosity enough that Stiles had started watching Peter’s coming and going on the building’s surveillance footage that he’d managed to have wired to his personal laptop long ago. He probably would have even memorized the older man’s schedule by now if he’d even _had_ a schedule, but instead his activity was always erratic, his trips seeming urgent and last minute whenever he left. 

And yeah, maybe that makes Stiles a stalker. Even more illegal and stalkerish is the fact that he’d gotten into his dad’s work computer eventually and used it to search various government databases for more information on Peter. 

To be fair, Peter’s records had shown him that the man himself had committed far worse crimes than stalking. He’d apparently been taken into custody twice on suspicion of murder, and had actually been charged with running a major drug and weapons smuggling operation, only to be released later on due to lack of solid physical evidence and the fact that no one would testify against him. It was obvious he was guilty of the crimes he’d been accused of, though, and by Stiles’ logic he was likely responsible for plenty of others that weren’t mentioned in police files and court documents. After all, Stiles knows from experience that people aren’t as innocent or good as they might seem, and that someone who could get away with murder once, even twice, would only be tempted to do it again. 

What impresses him more than Peter’s crimes themselves, though, is the sophistication, the organization behind them. As if killing someone wasn’t enough of a power trip, Peter also has power in the form of money, of influence, of people fearing him enough to do what he wants. Stiles wants that kind of power, has ended up watching the man who lives above him even more closely after his discovery and planning ways to form some kind of relationship with him.

 

A fire in their building, of course, isn’t something he could have expected or hoped for. It certainly has its benefits, though. Like the fact that Peter is now standing outside on the sidewalk, wearing nothing but a pair of form-fitting boxer briefs and slippers, a terrifyingly huge and fluffy cat in his arms. Both cat and human have almost identical disgruntled expressions on their faces, and Stiles doesn’t think to stifle his amused snicker before it escapes him as he loiters near Peter. 

His laughter doesn’t go unnoticed, either. Peter glances in his direction, eyes narrowed. “Is there a joke I’m missing out on, or do you just find being woken late at night by fire alarms and forced to evacuate that funny?”

Stiles holds his hands up in a placating gesture, not bothering to mention that he hadn’t been woken by the alarms because he’d already been up. “I’m just a little surprised that my neighbor didn’t bother to get dressed before he evacuated. Pleasantly surprised, of course.” He raises his eyebrows suggestively, and Peter just quirks his own eyebrow in response, staring him down for a moment before he says anything else. Then-

“There wasn’t time for me to put on clothes. I had to get Maria safely out of the building before the noise scared her or she suffered from smoke inhalation.” As he says this Peter strokes the back of his cat’s neck, whose rumbling purrs even manage to sound angry, and Stiles turns his attention to the creature. 

“Maria, huh? I didn’t take you for a cat person.” He didn’t take Peter for an _anything_ person, honestly. Daring to step a bit closer, he ducks down so he’s at eye level with the cat and coos, “Hi, kitty cat.”

Maria hisses and swats at Stiles’ hand before he can even touch her, claws digging into his skin and earning a startled, offended yelp from him. 

“She doesn’t take kindly to strangers.” Peter looks smug, then thoughtful as he eyes Stiles, who is cradling his injured hand and glaring at the cat. “Although, usually she’d bite someone who tried to touch her. She just might like you.”

Snorting disbelievingly, he mutters, “Yeah, she definitely likes me.” Just then Peter shifts the fluffy monster in his arms, granting Stiles an unobstructed view of his abs and immediately curing him of any bitterness he might have felt at being mauled by the guy’s cat.

“I’m sure she does.” Peter insists, but Stiles is still admiring his broad muscles and the light dusting of hair below his navel, so he doesn’t pay much attention to what the man is saying until he continues with, “After all, she has very good taste in people.” A barely there smirk graces his lips, and what? Is he _complimenting_ Stiles, possibly even flirting with him? He has to struggle to divide his attention evenly between actually talking to Peter and just gawking at his body after that, thanking whatever good luck he has that resulted in this surprise encounter between them.

 

They haven’t been talking for long when several fire engines arrive, the truck’s passengers filing into the apartment building to find what triggered all of the alarms. Stiles is a bit disappointed when the firefighters quickly emerge and talk to the manager of the building, who then announces that the alarms had just been malfunctioning, the problem has been solved, and everyone can go back inside now. It means his conversation with Peter is over.

However, the other man does walk Stiles back inside, all the way to the door of his apartment, before departing with a grin and the words, “It’s been a pleasure talking to you, Stiles. Enjoy the rest of your night.” Stiles is feeling nice enough that he says goodbye not only to Peter, but to his cat too even as she continues to glare at him from Peter’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> who knows when updates will be since I started writing this fic at least a month ago, avoided working on it forever, deleted everything I'd written so far and rewrote the first chapter within the last few hours. I feel like that's a bad omen or something. also I can't decide if I should tag this for ooc Peter?


End file.
